Milk And Honey Young Single Malt Triple Cask

Milk And Honey Young Single Malt Triple Cask

46% abv, 50cl bottle. Distillation dates and age of Casks are Unknown.

Bottled: 06/02/2018. Bottle 0846 / 1451.  Price: NIS 179

Kosher Certification from the Tel Aviv Rabbanut, Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau

This is a short tachles review of this single malt as I was afraid that by the time I got round to reviewing it, there wouldn't be any bottles left in the shops here in Israel.

This is a masterful distillery vatting of three casks, American Ex-Bourbon, Israeli Red Wine and a mystery cask from an Islay distillery. Despite being very young single malt (my guess is two years or less), the result from this new Tel Aviv distillery is quite simply delicious.

There is a bottling date of 06/02/2018 but no distillation date. I cannot even assume that the distillation dates for all three casks were the same and therefore the malts in each cask might be  of different ages. I simply don't know. Again, the lack of details for this craft presentation small batch is annoying. Contrast this to the Golan Heights distillery bottlings where they go into so much detail, they even state the Angels' share and Barley type. 

It does not state it on the bottle but I assume that this single malt is Non-Chilled Filtered and Natural Colour like previous bottlings. However, they really ought to state it on the label. It simply shows a lack of thought on their part. Anyway, enough grumbling, let's get down to the review.

Colour:

The colour is a rich golden honey syrup.

On the Nose:

A rich combination of perfumed white wine and coastal peat like the remains of a beach bonfire, fresh challah dough, sour lemon and a hint of wood furniture beeswax polish.

Taste:

Fruity white wine, sour lemon, milky salty-caramel, honey and yellow fruits, apples, honey-dew melon, a touch of red berry with some spicy but silky tannins and a hint of Islay coastal peat on the back of the tongue. The caramel and peat combine for a lasting finish.

Thoughts:

What I find most impressive is despite its ridiculously young age, so young in fact, they can't even call it whisky, is that it shows no spirit alcohol heat whatsoever, but instead displays a character and flavour of a single malt three to four times its age, no doubt due to the rapid maturation in the very humid Tel Aviv weather.
 

The first bottle released in this "Young Single Malt" series was Cask#33. This showed great promise but was very two dimensional and Banana bubble-gum dominant flavours. This Triple Cask is a significant step forward in terms of drinkability and complexity.

Beware! This is a very "moreish” single malt and the bottle is only 50cl so it might be worth getting a second bottle if you see it, before it runs out.

If I had to guess I’d say the Islay cask was an Ex-Bourbon Lagavulin or possibly Laphroaig.

Conclusion:

By far the best M&H I’ve tried so far. I liked this so much I went and bought another bottle within a few days of opening the first.